As concerns about our nation's dependence on foreign oil increase, and as Americans become more aware of the resulting direct effect on the economy of the country and of environmental impacts of foreign petroleum use, interest has increased for domestically-produced alternative methods for fueling transportation engines, as well as methods for generation of electrical energy.
Electrolysis has long been a method of choice to break compounds into their component molecules. Hydrolyzing water to produce steam and heat through the use of electrical energy at electrodes is called electrolysis, in this instance, water electrolysis. By subjecting water to a pair of electrodes to a electrical energy, a cold or low voltage anode and a hot or high voltage anode within a pressurized vessel, there will result the formation of pressurized steam.
In order to provide for more rapid electrolysis of water, it is desirable to inject more electrical energy into the water surrounding the electrodes to thereby break apart more water molecules rapidly and creating heat which becomes steam once is pressurized. One method of injecting large amounts of energy into the water to make steam is through electrodes is via an electric arc, this process is called arc-hydrolysis.
Electric arcs have been utilized for ionization and/or hydrolysis of water, wherein the energy released in the formation of the spark breaks apart the water molecule into its component hydrogen and oxygen elements. In hydrolyzing water, the arc must take place under water and is thus known as arc-hydrolysis.
Arc-hydrolysis of water will result in the production of a great deal of heat, wherein the temperature of the hot anode reaches approximately 6000 degrees Fahrenheit or more.
In order to stabilize the pattern of dependency on foreign oil, in addition to creating employment in a new industry, it is desirable to both generate high pressure steam and to recover electrical energy utilized in producing the steam.
Accordingly, it is advantageous to make the arc-hydrolysis process more efficient and/or to recover the heat energy through other means, steam production is one form of energy recovery. Efficiency improvement has been accomplished by adding salts to the water to facilitate ionic transfer between the electrodes. A large quantity of energy is generated in the form of heat in the electric arc discharge by the use of arc-hydrolysis.
Therefore, it is readily apparent that there is a need for an apparatus and method for generation of high-pressure steam via arc-hydrolysis, with supplemental electrical recovery of energy residing in the arc plasma.